BOARD DROPS “INTERIM” FROM TITLE OF DR. DIANA BOURISAW

St. Louis – During an executive session held this evening, the St. Louis Board of Education decided to drop the “interim” title of Dr. Diana Bourisaw thereby officially making her the superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools.

“After viewing first-hand the abilities of Dr. Bourisaw, the board felt there was no need to look further for a new superintendent,” said Veronica O’Brien, President of the Board of Education. “We have the perfect leader right in front of us,” she added.

Dr. Bourisaw was named Interim Superintendent this past July during a special board meeting. In the following six weeks she took aggressive action to ensure that all of the district’s 93 schools were ready to be opened on Aug. 28, including:

• Finding classrooms for approximately 400 teachers, including those from the reconstituted schools. There are more certified teachers in classrooms this school year than in any previous year and there are no “permanent” substitutes as a result of the hard work of our new human resources office;

• Hiring principals and assistant principals for vacancies the previous administration failed to fill;
  
• Preparing our school buildings for the opening of school. Our facilities required a lot of work that had not yet begun July 17, including general maintenance andconstruction work on reconfigured schools. To add insult to injury, several buildings were damaged by the real July storms;
  
• Purchasing textbooks and ensuring they were in the classroom on day one; and,
  
• Notifying parents regarding where their child would be attending school.
  

“I have enjoyed my first seven weeks serving on an interim basis,” Dr. Bourisaw said. “I’m looking forward to continuing in this role permanently and working with our excellent staff to improve the school district,” she said.

Prior to joining the St. Louis Public Schools, Dr. Bourisaw served as the President of Education Options, a Missouri consulting firm specializing in organizational, policy, accountability, and financial reviews focusing on high poverty districts. She has also served as the Executive Vice President of DHR International, an executive search and consulting firm, since 2003.

She was the interim State Supervisor for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, a position in which she oversaw accreditation reviews for school districts across the state.

Dr. Bourisaw has served as a superintendent of the Fox C-6 School District, an 11,000-student school district in Arnold Missouri, and as Area Superintendent in the Sacramento City Unified School District, a 50,000 school district in Sacramento, California. During the time she was in Fox C-6, the district realized improved student achievement at all levels, the dropout rate reduced by half, increased district fund balances and increased student attendance. In Sacramento, Dr. Bourisaw was the area Superintendent responsible for 16 schools with an enrollment of 14,000 students.